The official website for Mischa’s upcoming drama Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain has gone live. Click here to visit. Corresponding Facebook and Twitter pages have also been started.

Release dates are still being finalized with distributors but hopefully some solid news will be out soon. In the meantime, check out the trailer.

Dilip, a rickshaw driver in Bhopal, India, lands himself a job at the Union Carbide plant. It is a chance to prove his worth to his family and pull them out of poverty. The job is tough with long hours; everyone is desperate to hold on to their pay cheque and so Dilip keeps quiet when he notices managers at the plant ignoring safety standards.

Dilip’s long time friend, Motwani, a tabloid journalist knows that Bhopal residents complain of the constant stench in the air and wake up at night choking from the gas. He is on a mission to expose what he believes is a deadly time bomb ticking away in his home town. He feels as if no one will listen but when he meets feisty American journalist, Eva, he sees a ray of hope and persuades her to confront Carbide executive Warren Anderson.

As Eva and Motwani endeavour to delve deeper into Carbide’s activities, Dilip is using every resource necessary to pay and plan for his sister’s wedding. When the wedding night arrives the family are full of joy and celebration as two families

join together as one. But as the music plays an invisible catastrophe is working its way throughout the town and wedding party. One by one the guests start to feel unwell the largest tower at the Carbide plant spews poisonous gas into the night air; one by one they collapse; and one by one they unknowingly become a statistic in the world’s largest chemical disaster to date.

Nearly thirty years later as the plant stands as a ghost-like constant reminder, the water in Bhopal is still contaminated and one person a day dies as a direct result of the tragedy, Eva visits the now retired Anderson. Will he finally bow down and apologise? Or will he continue to deny that Carbide had any part to play…?

Check out this amazing preview/trailer shared by the second unit cinematographer Øystein Essén Lundstrøm of Mischa’s upcoming film Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain. This film also stars Martin Sheen and Kal Penn and is inspired by the devastating Bhopal gas tragedy which is still affecting people to this day.

Martin Sheen and Mischa Barton’s ‘Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain’, that was shot partly in the city, may release next year

Ravi Kumar, the director of “Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain” was inspired by “many wonderful books and documentaries” on the Bhopal gas tragedy when he decided to make a feature film on it. In 2009, Kumar got US actors Martin Sheen and Mischa Barton on board for the movie, through which he wanted to tell the story of “corporate greed and the hypocrisy of multinationals in dealing with the third world”. He says it was relatively easy to convince the renowned actors to be part of the project since they responded well to this universal theme.

Kumar shot with Sheen, Barton, Indian actress Tannishtha Chatterjee and several others at that time, and since he had to re-create the 1984 period of Bhopal, he shot the film in Hyderabad and Mumbai on sets and factory locations, and only a few critical scenes were shot in Bhopal. The “life-changing” experience was like a roller coaster ride for the director, who says that three years after the first shot, he is finally reaching the “end of this long journey”.

He told us recently, “We have been invited to some major film festivals where it will be premiered. The release dates will be decided by the distributor all over the world according to their plans.”

However, after the shoot, the director had come under attack from some local NGOs, which claimed that the movie was misrepresenting reality. But ask him about it now, and he says, “For us, there are no issues. The script that they objected to, is not relevant as it was an older version. You have to remember, 95 per cent of the film, crew and cast is Indian, our producer Ravi Walia is Indian… hundreds of them came on board as they believed in the script. Anyone who has seen the rough edit is proud to be associated with this epic and moving story made by Indians.” As far as the delay in the release is concerned (from 2010 to tentatively 2012), he says, “The film has been edited carefully, some scenes re-shot, as this is a historical document and people expect the story to be authentic and genuine. It’s been worthwhile fine-tuning the story as this kind of films have a long shelf life. ”

Right now, the film is with some very senior editors, and music composers from London and LA are working on it, says Kumar. While he does admit that the whole journey of making the movie has been difficult, he adds, “This is not a commercial project, but I’m glad to say that the finished film feels more suited for mainstream audience worldwide, thanks to the universal theme and the US actors playing crucial roles.”

Hollywood stars Martin Sheen and Mischa Barton’s upcoming film, Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, based on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, has come under severe attack from NGOs and campaigners for several reasons.

Sheen plays Warren Anderson, the then chief executive of Union Carbide, while Barton plays Eva Gascon, a journalist of the magazine, Paris Match. Although the film has been kept under wraps, reports suggest it ends with an imagined present-day meeting between an unrepentant Anderson and a remorseful Gascon at the former’s country club in the US.

Director Ravi Kumar was unavailable for a comment. However, Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal says the movie “shows the US-based Union Carbide Corporation management as pure saints”. She adds that they have been in constant touch with Sheen. “Initially, Kumar was in touch but once we started raising objections, he vanished. Sheen has expressed solidarity with us over the issue.”

“Kumar’s film shows Union Carbide’s Indian subsidiary Union Carbide India Limited was responsible for the tragedy while Anderson goes scot-free. Several respected people such as senior journalist Raj Kumar Keswani are depicted in an objectionable manner,” says Dhingra, adding they want the makers to re-shoot a small portion. “They haven’t responded yet. If our concerns aren’t dealt with, we won’t let the film open.”

Satinath Sarangi, managing trustee of Bhopal-based Sambhavna Clinic, which has been helping the victims over the years, says, “Ravi Kumar was constantly in touch with us initially but he suddenly stopped communicating. We are going to shoot off letters to all cast members including Barton and Sheen, who will pay heed to our objections because he has been involved with several causes around the world.” Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee, who plays Leela in the film, says, “I am an Indian so I will never be part of any film that’s insensitive to such a subject.”

A new article has recently been published with Bhopal film-maker Ravi Kumar. The article talks about several elements of the movie including possible release date time frames, premiere ideas, storyline and general conceptual chit chatter. Its a very interesting read for those of us looking forward to seeing Mischa in this film 😀

Celluloid Memorial for Bhopal

London-based Ravi Kumar revisits the tragedy of the gas leak in his new film

In his apartment in London, film-maker Ravi Kumar sat glued to the television as the kickers revealed the verdict on the Bhopal tragedy. “We are very disappointed and shocked at hearing the lenient verdict given to the staff of Union Carbide. The US bosses of Union Carbide have not even been prosecuted. This is not a good precedent for future cases,” says Kumar via email. He is still seething in anger about the Bhopal High Court’s decision to acquit former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, but there are pressing matters at hand — Kumar is in final stages of post-production work of his film, Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain.

The film, made on a US $12 million (approx. Rs 55 crores) budget, dramatises the events leading up to the tragedy on the night of December 3, 1986, when plumes of toxic MIC gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory, killing and maiming thousands. The film, with an international cast of Martin Sheen, Mischa Barton and Kal Penn from Hollywood , and Rajpal Yadav, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Akhil Mishra from India, will be ready for release in December.

“We want to premier the film on the 26th anniversary of the disaster but, being an international film, the release dates will be decided by individual distributors,” adds 39-year-old Kumar, who has co-written the script with British scriptwriter David Brooks Miller.

Kumar, a virtually unknown filmmaker despite three previous films, is also a trained pediatrician. He was born and raised in Bhopal but settled in London many years ago. He made his first short film in 1999.

Current Projects

Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain (2014)Awaiting release
The story follows a young rickshaw-puller in Bhopal who gets a menial job at a chemical plant,
but in December of 1984 a chemical spill in India takes the lives of almost 15,000 people and
injuring more than 100,000. The film follows how the industrial disaster in the city changes
his life and those of others. Inspired by real events.

L.A. Slasher (2014)Awaiting release
"L.A SLASHER" is a stylish horror movie based in the dark heart of Los Angeles. The city is in turmoil as one by one
various ‘reality stars’ go missing and are subjected to brutal mutilation in twisted comparisons to their claims to fame.

American Beach House (2014)Post-production
What happens when six lucky strangers, three handsome young guys and three beautiful sexy young women,
from all over the world, win a random contest-- an all expenses paid trip to an amazing beach house
in glamorous Malibu, California, thanks to a big internet company--only to discover they have to share it with each other.

Mining for Ruby (2014)Post-production
Jonathan is a widower dealing with his continued depression as he falls for Ruby, a passionate environmental
engineering grad student with a troubled past, who is embroiled in a poisonous waste controversy.

Beyond Justice (2014)Post-production
A young criminal defense attorney struggles with a homicide case that is not as cut and dry as it appears while battling a
drinking habit. The story goes beyond the lives of those directly related to the case and shines a much needed
spotlight on the horrific world of human trafficking in the United States.

Zombie Killers: Elephant's Graveyard Post-production
The rural town of Elwood is a "bubble" against the backdrop of a suspected global infection that has apparently destroyed civilization. A small band of young adults
are all that keeps the town safe while patrolling the fence line that locks the residents inside. There is something wrong with the town as something
worse than what's outside the fence closes in on its residents.

Starcrossed (2014) Post-production
A struggling writer meets a mysterious woman and over the course of one remarkable night discovers what love is. A struggling writer meets a mysterious woman and over the course of one remarkable night discovers what love is.

Kickback (2014)Pre-production
Based on a true story. A renegade Moscow detective, Ivanov defies government pressure and investigates the assassination
of a maverick war reporter. However, he becomes embroiled in a web of counter espionage involving chemical warfare, an
untraceable gun,an overdue library book, a disappeared daughter and the assassination of the Russian president.

Butterfly Love (2014)Pre-production
Emma, an American girl aspiring to become a sculptor, is struggling between her job as a waitress and a failing relationship with her wealthy boyfriend,
Jefrey. She soon shares a mutual physical attraction with Jean-Pierre, an unsuccessful French painter working in an antique shop. But Emma's strange
behavior, characterized by tormenting and unexplained panic attacks, jeopardizes both Jean-Pierre's and her life at times.

Knockout (2015)Pre-production
A young woman, distraught from witnessing the murder of her parents as a child, develops her own unique martial art
by playing video games. It's because of this she suddenly finds herself embroiled in the world of underground fighting.